Kansas Republicans voted to override Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill that requires transgender people to use restrooms and changing facilities based on biological sex rather than gender identity.
The Kansas Senate voted to override the veto Tuesday, 31-9, and the Kansas House followed Wednesday with an 87-37 vote, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
The override means Senate Bill 244 is the second new law of the 2026 legislative session and the first to take effect, according to the report.
Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican, praised the outcome, saying the override "restored sanity."
He said Kelly's veto "would have forced our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters to share their bathrooms with biological men in government buildings."
"Kansas Democrats are for They/Them," Masterson said in a statement. "I will continue to fight for you, and protect women and girls across our state."
Democrat state Rep. Abi Boatman, who is transgender, criticized the measure, saying the law "obviously discriminates against transgender people in ways that make our lives exponentially more difficult and dangerous."
Under the bill, government buildings — including public schools and universities — would be required to separate bathrooms and locker rooms by biological sex. The measure also addresses other designated spaces tied to privacy and changing.
Violations could trigger penalties.
According to the report, individuals who violate the law could be fined or sued for $1,000 and could be criminally charged for repeatedly using facilities that do not match their biological sex.
The bill includes exceptions, including allowing parents or caregivers to take children under 9 years old into opposite-sex bathrooms and allowing coaches into opposite-sex locker rooms as long as everyone is clothed.
Another provision would bar Kansas residents from changing the sex marker on state-issued driver's licenses and birth certificates.
Kelly defended her veto, saying the legislation was "poorly drafted" and would "have numerous and significant consequences far beyond the intent to limit the right of trans people to use the appropriate bathroom."
"Under this bill: If your grandfather is in a nursing home in a shared room, as a granddaughter, you would not be able to visit him. If your wife is in a shared hospital room, as a husband, you would not be able to visit her," she said.
"If your sister is living in a dorm at K-State, as a brother, you would not be able to visit her in her room," Kelly added.
"If you feel you have to accompany your 9-year-old daughter to the restroom at a sporting event, as a father, you would have to either enter the women's restroom with her or let her use the restroom alone."
Republican state Sen. Kellie Warren responded that the governor's examples are "not the subject of the bill," saying the law is focused on "restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms, shower rooms, or other rooms that are specifically designed or designated by the government for people to change and be in a state of undress."
Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries said Kelly's veto message was "full of red herrings" and failed to "address the merits" of the legislation.
Before the veto, the bill passed with more than two-thirds support in the GOP-dominated House and Senate.
In 2025, lawmakers overrode a Kelly veto to pass a law banning sex change drugs for minors. That law is being challenged in state court.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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